Indian Army personnel engaged a suspected Pakistani drone that infiltrated the airspace near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district. The incident, which occurred late Saturday night, involved the drone hovering briefly over Indian territory before it retreated to Pakistan. Despite a thorough search of the area in the Keri sector, the troops did not find any suspicious items on the ground, the Hindustan Times reported. Officials have expressed concerns regarding the potential misuse of drones by anti-national elements to smuggle weapons and narcotics into India. However, the security forces said they are well-prepared to counter such threats, the report added.
In a related event, another flying object with blinking lights was observed near the Allahpir area of Poonch district during the night between Saturday and Sunday. Joint efforts by the police and security forces to scour the area yielded no findings, as per the HT report.
Meanwhile, in Punjab’s Amritsar district, the Border Security Forces recovered a China-made DJI Mavic 3 Classic drone. The discovery was made in a harvested field in the village of Havelian following a tip from the BSF intelligence wing, the HT report said. “On 12th May 2024, based on information regarding the presence of a drone in the border area of district Amritsar, BSF troops immediately launched an extensive search operation in the suspected area,” a statement from BSF PUNJAB FRONTIER read. The operation culminated at approximately 05:35 pm with the successful recovery of the drone.
This incident happened close on the heels of another drone-related event in Amritsar, where a drone was used to transport a packet of suspected heroin. This earlier incident took place on May 11, when security personnel observed a drone during the nighttime, prompting an immediate response, as per HT. “At about 11:40 pm, BSF troops successfully recovered 1 small drone along with 1 packet of suspected heroin ahead of a border security fence in a farming field in village Havelian in district Amritsar,” the Public Relations Officer of BSF reported. The packet, which weighed approximately 498 grams, was wrapped in yellow adhesive tape and was equipped with a torch and a nylon loop. The drone involved in both incidents was identified as a quadcopter, model DJI Mavic 3 Classic, manufactured in China.
